Conversation - Employees & Employers Negotiate (B2/C1)

One of the skills that I have most focused on in my classes is the oral one. Most part of the time, students want to SPEAK the language rather than just study its grammar (by answering some grammar exercises) in class.

Considering that speaking is developed by practice (that’s just my opinion), I developed some short activities that can be used by teachers in their EFL/ESL classes.

This one is meant to be used with B2 or C1 students.

PROCEDURE: Write the situation on the board

TIME: 30 to 40 minutes

TOPIC: business

SKILL: speaking

TEACHER’S ROLE: facilitator

Read the situation below and brainstorm with a partner a list of pints that both partners might want to include in a negotiation

Situation about the employees and employers:

IMAGINE A COMPANY. NOW, IMAGINE THAT THE COMPANY FINDS ITSELF IN ECONOMIC DIFFICULTY AND THEN EMPLOYEES HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR JOBS. THE EMPLOYEES ARE UNHAPPY WITH EMPLOYMENT AND SALARY ISSUES.

Now, ask your students to reflect upon the following questions:  

WHY SHOULD EACH PARTY NEGOTIATE?

WHAT DOES EACH SIDE WANT TO ACHIEVE?

After the students have reflected upon the situation as well as discussed with their partners, ask them to share their thoughts on the topic. Then, divide the group into ‘employees’ and ‘employers’ and simulate the situation above.

Ask them to write short dialogues as well as practice them in pairs (or groups). Finally, when you feel that students should talk about negotiation, tell them to start a conversation in which they should use (some of) the structures/questions below:

I am willing to accept________ if ________.

I think we will have to agree with_________.

It would be an alternative to______________.

We can trade this against ________________.

Our intention is________________________.

I would like to_______________________.

We might like to____________________.

We must________________________.

Our main concern is __________________.

It is vital that __________________________.

We refuse to accept __________________________.

It is extremely important for us to include ____________.

How about ______________?

Do you feel that you can accept _______________?

How can we reach a compromise?

Could you tell us why you feel like that?

Shall we put this into a written proposal?

Can you offer us any other possibility?

And you can give them some production moment (I am considering the steps of the PPP approach) in which they are supposed to develop a role-play activity about negotiation (of any kind).

If you have enough time, you can ask your students to think about the last time they were involved in situation in which they were supposed to negotiate something.

HOW MUCH TIME DID THEY SPEND ON PREPARATION?

Ask them if they would prepare differently if they had to negotiate again.

  

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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We Need to Talk about… Well, in Language Lessons We Only Have to Talk about Something

I was reading an article about life in other planets and I thought of warm-up (or pocket) activity on religion and the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence.

It goes like this…

During a conversation course for C1 or C2 students, the teacher can start the lesson by asking students the question:

WOULD THE EXISTENCE OF EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON RELIGION, SHATTERING COMPLETELY THE TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF GOD'S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A MAN?

Right after asking them the question, the teacher could ask them to work pair (or in small groups) and try to say what they think about the topic after they had reflected upon. Ask them to say as much as possible about the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence and how it would affect people’s lives here on Earth.  

I believe this is one way of providing students with some activities with the purpose of improving their oral abilities. Of course, the teacher must talk to the students about the topic and let make them aware of the purpose of the activity – after all, we don’t want our students to be offended by the questions I make. In some countries, however, this question should never be asked. So, make sure you know when you could use it and in doing so, you would avoid problems with you pupils.

Transcript: So one of my recent columns in Scientific American was called Sky Gods for Skeptics, or as they used to call it, Aliens for Atheists.

Basically the idea is that aliens and extraterrestrials in our imagination—and we haven’t found any yet so they’re all in our imagination—are often portrayed as these almost god-like deities, you know, they’re super advanced technologically, scientifically, morally. They’ve somehow overcome war and poverty and these sorts of things. And so I got to thinking about this. It’s very similar to the religious impulse, which is that: we’re not alone. There is something out there more powerful than us who knows about us and cares about us; who loves us. That’s the kind of deep religious impulse: “We’re not alone.” And that’s the same impulse people get when they think about extraterrestrials.

The crux of my article in Scientific American is that there was there was a new paper published that showed that people who have this longing—so there’s variation in this: some people have more of that longing than others—those who have that longing but are not religious are more likely to believe extraterrestrials are out there.

In other words, if you have the religious beliefs, God, Jesus, Mohammed, whatever your religion is, you don’t really need the aliens, so you’re satisfied with that. But if you don’t have that then you’re more likely to go for the extraterrestrial hypothesis as a viable one in the sense that “it makes me feel good”.

Because let’s face it, religions have no more evidence for god than scientists have for extraterrestrials. It’s all imagination and speculation based on reason and logic and arguments, but we still don’t have any empirical evidence. So short of that I find it interesting that it becomes sort of an emotional appeal or a deep desire for us to feel like there’s somebody else out there, and "I’m not alone". And let’s face it, that does feel good, and there’s nothing wrong with that—but we should always suspend judgment until we actually have evidence for this. We may be the only ones in the cosmos that are sentient beings, and if so, all the more reason we should care for our world and each other, because that would mean this is it.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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ADOPTING A CHILD (EFL/ESL Speaking Activity)

The activity I would like to suggest today is called ADOPTING A CHILD. It should be used with B2, C1, or C2 (intermediate, upper-intermediate, or advanced) students.

First, tell your students the following story:

A truck driver was in a gas station and was just about to get into his truck when he heard a baby boy screaming right in front of his wheel. He picked the baby up and took him to the authorities.

Now the baby is up for adoption and the authorities are looking for the ideal parents.

After the students reading moment, ask them to try to draw the situation (ask them to imagine and then draw the situation).

After that, compare their drawings and give them to read, analyze and complete the checklist below.

ADOPTING A CHILD

CRITERIA

The ideal should:

[     ] be under 30 years old

[     ] be of the same racial group as the child

[     ] be of the same religious group as each other

[     ] be a married couple

[     ] be a heterosexual couple

[     ] both have jobs

[     ] have other children in the family

[     ] not be living in poverty  

[     ] have some professional experience of dealing with children, i.e. as teachers or nurses  

Ask them to mark each item of the list or criteria on a scale of 1 (very important) to 5 (not important at all). Then, divide them into groups of 3 (or more) and ask them discuss each point. In groups, students should discuss each item, using the agreeing and disagreeing sentences below:

AGREEING

I completely agree with you.

I agree with your point of view.

I think you’re right.

By and large, I would accept what you just said (formal)

Exactly, I feel the same way.

I agree up to a point, but…

DISAGREEING

I don’t agree with you at all.

No way could I agree to that (informal)

I respect your opinion, however… (student’s’ ideas)

I am not totally convinced by what you said.

I really must take issue with you here (formal)

We’ll have to agree to agree to disagree then.

You as a teacher should guide the students during the whole activity. Nonetheless, be careful about your opinions and make sure that students understand that the activity is not a competition (there no right or wrong answer).

This activity is based on Jane G. Coury’s Speaking Activities Book.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. 

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much. 

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me! 

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

Did you spot a typo? 

Do you have any tips or examples to improve this page?

Do you disagree with something on this page?

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Predictions in English: Reading, speaking, grammar and writing activities. Part one.

Let’s talk about the future in English (predictions). In this very specific case, I would like to share an activity I have used in my lessons about future possibility (will, won’t, may, might, and could).

First of all, I wrote “Life in the future” and “home” on the board. After that, I asked how they think houses will be in the future. Then they talked, firstly in pairs, about what their thoughts are (were) and then shared them with the whole group.

We all read a text about the future called “What Does the Future Hold?”

We spoke to Professor John Williams, futurologist, for his expert predications on life in the next few decades.

　　Well, the first thing to say is that I don’t believe we’re all going to be living in treehouses and walking or cycling everywhere. We are going to have to make changes though.

　　Unfortunately, it looks quite likely that the climate may change significantly, with hotter summers, colder winters and more flooding. At the same time, fuel for heating or air conditioning will probably become much more expensive. For these reasons, our houses will definitely have to become much better insulated. People are already building so-called ‘passive houses,’ which have little or no central heating at all, relying on the body heat of the people who live there.

　　Homes probably won’t be as big, and so we will need more adaptable furniture, such as sofa-beds, and when we are not using our furniture we will be able to fold it away into wall cabinets. Houses could have movable walls so that the same space can be arranged in different ways. Tabletops may double as computer screens or DVD players.

　　New technology will make us more self-sufficient. Kitchens may have fish tanks which, as well as providing fish to eat, also produce fresh vegetables. The plants will provide oxygen for the fish. These tanks will be powered by household waste and create energy, which can then be used to run the family car – though we might not all have cars!

　　Water will definitely be more expensive and the home of the future will probably be designed to use much less. Washing machines and dishwashers might use sound wave to shake dirt off. We may even take showers using sound waves. What water we do use will be recycled and used again round the house and private swimming pools will become a thing of the past.

　　We will also certainly have more robots in our homes, though they won’t look like the ones in films. There will probably be small robots designed to clean the fridge or open the curtains. Clever fridges will tell us when food is about to go out of date and even suggest recipes, and we will be able to communicate with our homes by mobile phone wherever we are.

After reading it, I asked them this quite simple question:

Which of the predictions in the article do you think are likely to happen? Why?

I had to explain the meaning of “likely” to some of them.*

Students all talked about it very enthusiastically and then, they were asked to listen to a listening activity and tick the predictions they think are likely to happen and cross those ones they think are unlikely to happen.

We obviously had to observe the uses of will and won’t. Well, in case you are not aware of their uses, we use will and won’t + an adverb to say how likely something is in the future. However, the positions of will and won’t will certainly vary.

Will comes before the adverb as in “I’ll definitely go” or “I’ll probably stay”. Notice that both sentences are affirmative (positive) sentences.

Won’t, on the other hand, comes after the adverb as in “I certainly won’t go” or “I probably won’t stay”.

Well, what happens if you’re not certain about something? In this case, we should use may (may not), might (might not), or could (but not “couldn’t” for possibility in the future).

Julia may meet us later for a drink or two.

The store might not be open.

Having said and done all above, we started a very good activity in which we had to talk and write about the past (25 years ago).

Students were asked to look at the sentences about twenty-five years ago and change them so that they would make predictions about the next twenty-five years.

  

SENTENCES:

Twenty-five years ago…

Most people had cars.

In the next twenty-five years…

There will probably be fewer cars because of the price of fuel.

Twenty-five years ago…

People wrote more letters.

In the next twenty-five years…

(Students’ answers)

Twenty-five years ago…

Most people watched videos rather than DVDs.

In the next twenty-five years…

(Students’ answers)

Twenty-five years ago…

People didn’t worry about wasting water.

In the next twenty-five years…

(Students’ answers)

Twenty-five years ago…

Most people didn’t have mobile phones.

In the next twenty-five years…

(Students’ answers)

Twenty-five years ago…

People didn’t buy organic food.

In the next twenty-five years…

(Students’ answers)

We checked all the possibilities and then finished this activity by asking students about their plans for the next ten years (2014-2024). They were supposed to use will, may, might, could, and the negative forms if necessary.

In the end of the lesson, learners were asked to write two predictions for people in the classroom. They were told to not write people’s names. Having finished that, they gave me back the pieces of papers I had given them and we read the predictions trying to guess who the predictions were about.

If you liked this activity, share it. It was made to provide teachers with more options. Doing that, everyone will benefit from it.  

This activity has been developed by Bruno Coriolano as part of his lesson plan. In case you want to download it, click here.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.